Notorious for being one of the hardest courses on the Epson Tour schedule, Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Arkansas is no joke to the women on tour. Last year, the winning score was 5-under par, and the 2019 champion was only 2-under par.
In the opening round of this year’s Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout, Bailey Tardy fired off an impressive 7-under par 65. The Georgia native went bogey-free on the day.
“It felt pretty good,” said Tardy. “I think I out-struck everyone on the golf course today. I was hitting the ball really well and made the putts when I needed to.”
Having played this course before, Tardy knew what to expect coming into the week. She reminded herself to stay composed, and it paid off.
“I stayed patient out there knowing doubles can happen, bogeys are going to happen and accepted that,” said Tardy. “Luckily I didn’t have any today.”
Tardy says that visiting El Dorado is like coming to visit long lost family. Catching up with the people she’s met here distracts her from overthinking the tournament. In addition to spending time with friends, Tardy distracts herself with her fur-best friend.
“I had a bad round last week, and I got to go home to a happy dog that doesn’t know anything about golf,” said a smiling Tardy. “That keeps me centered and leveled.”
Three strokes behind Tardy, in solo second place was Grace Kim. The Australian is familiar with seeing her name at the top of the leaderboard this season and looks to finish her rookie season strong. Her 4-under round consisted of five birdies, a lone bogey and 12 pars, something she was happy to see on her scorecard while competing at Mystic Creek Golf Club for the first time.
“I think managing yourself mentally well is important,” said Kim. “You can’t be greedy and beat yourself up for making pars. That’s literally all you can do, and there’s no damage to the scorecard. I was more lenient on myself and instead of grinding it out, I played a hole at a time.”
Ho-Yu An, Jiwon Jeon, Britney Yada and Kiira Riihijarvi were tied for third at 3-under par. The four sit one stroke behind Kim and four strokes behind Tardy.
An carded six birdies on the day, while Jeon recorded three birdies and a lone eagle. Riihijarvi also felt good walking off the course with five birdies. While most have mixed opinions of the infamously difficult Mystic Creek Golf Club, Riihijarvi enjoys the challenge.
“I really like this golf course,” said Riihijarvi. “I kind of like that it’s hard. It rewards you for good shots and you have to be really careful with the bad shots, so I’m enjoying it. It’s a gorgeous golf course.”
Rounding out the top five was Yada, who carded four birdies. The Epson Tour veteran has seen this course numerous times, which she felt gave her a bit of an advantage.
“I feel like I had a lot of control over the golf ball today,” said Yada. “It was a pretty low stress day, which is hard to come by on this golf course. It was good.”
A total of 33 players shot even-par or better, including 2022 champions Kim (-4), Riihijarvi (-3), Dottie Ardina (-2), Yan Liu (-1) and Daniela Iacobelli (-1).
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